Picture Perfect
by Moonshine 369
Summary: Though James may not be the best of artists, he can still put a smile on Lily's face. LilyxJames oneshot.


**Hullo again! Here's a short little oneshot that just came to me. It explains itself. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. :[**

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"What are you doing?" 

It was summer, a rather warm one at that. James and Lily Potter were newlyweds. Lily hadn't expected James to be home so soon.

She jumped at the sound of his voice, and quickly stood up to face him. She had been standing in front of an easel with several muggle paints strewn around everywhere. But she made positive to put her hands on her hips just so that they, along with the rest of her body, made it impossible for James to see anything on the easel.

"You're home early," said Lily with a caring smile. James raised an eyebrow at her, suspiciously.

He then returned her caring smile, and leaned over to give her a tiny kiss on the forehead. From that position he put his hands on her shoulders and quickly scooted her aside to see what she was doing.

On the easel was the frame of a head and shoulders, nothing more. There were several erase marks around it and what looked like an early attempt at adding glasses.

James raised his other eyebrow, trying to comprehend the drawing, while Lily grabbed a throw pillow from the couch and covered the drawing with it.

"You weren't supposed to see that yet," she moaned, frowning poutily at her husband. James chuckled and mocked her pouty look, his hazel eyes catching her green ones, and he placed another soft kiss on her cheek for good measure.

"I don't think it matters, I haven't the slightest clue who that's s'posed to be," James said, adding a frown for good measure.

Lily looked offended. "It's s'posed to be you," she said. Lily really _was_ a good artist. It was hard to tell what anything is this early in the painting, though.

"Really?" James said, ruffling up his hair. "I'm flattered." But his face showed that he was lying. He was more embarrassed than flattered, taken the pink shade of his skin.

"Go away," Lily said, frowning. "You can see it when I'm done."

James scrunched up his nose, bitterly, but obeyed and walked into the next room.

Lily sighed and sat back down on her stool and began continuing to sketch. Shortly, she had finished the glasses, and added hair and eyes. She only needed a vague sketch before she started painting, so she went into the kitchen to get her brushes, which she had recently washed by the sink.

She noticed James had advanced into the same room, too. He was digging through the cabinets and drawers, searching for something. Lily put her hands on her hips as her mouth curved into a bemused smile, and she stood there, watching him make a total mess of the kitchen.

"Can I help?" she said, after a moment of watching him dig through various parts of the kitchen, completely oblivious to the fact that his wife was watching him.

James shook slightly as he heard her. He turned his head to her and closed the cabinet he was looking through, and stuck his tongue out at her.

"Very mature, James," she said, stifling a giggle.

"Where's the bloody paper?" he asked heatedly, running a hand through his hair.

"Why would the paper be in the kitchen?" Lily asked, humoring him.

"Maybe it got hungry, decided to get something from the fridge."

Lily picked up her brushes. "Come on, you can have some of mine," she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the kitchen.

When they returned to the dining room, Lily pulled all of her extra sheets from behind her sketch and handed it to James, along with a pencil and eraser. Then she resumed her seat in front of her easel and started to add color to her sketch.

James accepted the paper, pencil and eraser like gifts, and walked to sit down on the dining room table (not before sticking his tongue out once more at Lily, of course). He examined the pencil, then the paper, and then looked up to Lily, who was now engrossed in her painting.

"Can you guess what I'm drawing?" James asked, smiling. There was a twinkle in his eye that revealed his inner child.

"Merlin, James, don't make me guess something so _hard_," she said, rolling her eyes.

"It's a cute little redhead who likes to paint," James explained.

"You don't say."

"It's true."

There was a pause in which James stared at his blank page, and Lily finished the face of James, and started with his shoulders, and the background.

"Mine's going to be better than yours," James said, breaking the silence.

"Maybe you should start, then," Lily jeered, glancing over at his blank sheet of paper.

"I'll do _just_ that," he said.

Lily set her paintbrush down to watch her husband scrawling, frustrated, on the paper. He put his pencil down and lifted up the paper to look at it, looking upset with it. He mumbled something and flipped it over, and began sketching on the back.

Lily's eyes softened. "It doesn't have to be perfect, sweetie," she said, frowning.

James didn't reply.

Lily put the finishing touches on her painting and leaned back to look over it. In her eyes it was… mediocre. She shrugged and went to clean off her paintbrushes, shooting a nervous glance at James before she left.

When she returned, James had crumpled up his first sheet of paper and was onto the second. His face looked so serious. Lily frowned and sat back at her easel.

"I'm done, honey, want to see it?"

James looked up at her and paused. "You mind waiting until I'm done?"

"Not at all," Lily said, smiling. She walked into the kitchen and got the _Prophet._ When she returned, James was on his third sheet of paper, and was red in the face. She sat on the couch and stretched out, looking worriedly at her husband.

After about an hour of reading the _Prophet,_ Lily glanced back over at James. He was a complete wreck, frantically sketching. Lily noted that his pile of three sheets had greatened considerably. He frowned at the current sheet, then crumpled it up viciously, and tossed it in his giant pile of mess-ups.

Lily walked over cautiously, and picked up all of the paper, and walked over to throw it into the waste basket.

"Need anything while I'm up?" Lily asked, standing in front of James.

James looked up at her, with an unreadable expression on her face. "A pencil sharpener?"

Lily smiled warmly and fetched a pencil sharpener for him, set it down, and sat back on the couch where she promptly re-read the prophet for the 7th time.

Another few hours passed. The sun was setting, and Lily was getting tired of reading the same news about Voldemort and Death Eaters being 'Completely under control,' but she didn't want to upset anything. So she made herself comfortable, rested her head on a pillow, and was quickly asleep.

A few minutes later, or so it seemed to Lily, there was a relentless tapping on her shoulder.

"Five… more… minutes…" she yawned, rolling over and refusing to open her eyes.

"Lillyyyy… it's late. You'd better go to bed."

Lily perked up. "Not until you show me your drawing," she said, sitting up and flashing him a smile.

James wrinkled his nose.

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

James walked over to the dining room table and picked up his drawing, but flipped it so that Lily could only see the blank half that he hadn't drawn on. Lily walked over and did the same with hers.

"You first," said James, a nondescript expression on his face.

Lily smiled and flipped her painting around. She had gotten the colors perfectly. The picture was the most lifelike thing James had ever seen. His eyes caught the light in the picture just the way they always did, just enough to give you a peek into his soul, just enough so you could see that he was, in fact, a child at heart.

James frowned.

Lily did the same. "You don't like it?" she asked, looking offended.

"No- it's… perfect."

"I'm sure yours is, too," Lily said, gently.

James gave her a childishly ashamed look, and flipped around his drawing.

There was a stickman on it, with red pencil marks for hair, a black dot for a nose and a black smile, and two green dots for eyes.

Lily gasped, and couldn't part her eyes from it. Then she suddenly ran up to James and kissed him on the cheek, pulling him into the most emotional hug she could muster.

"That's the most amazing drawing I've ever seen."

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**There you have it! I hope you liked it! Read and Review, s'il vous plait!**


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